Centre for Turkey Studies Second Anniversary Dinner
The Centre for Turkey Studies celebrated its second year with many prominent guests on the 27th March 2013 at the famous Park Lane Sheraton Hotel.
500 distinguished guests were present at the event both from the UK and Turkey. About 40 members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords attended the reception and the dinner. Among them were Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt Conservative MP, Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party Richard Harrington MP, Minister of State for Justice Baron Tom McNally PC, the Spokesman for the Cabinet Office on foreign affairs and defence Lord William Wallace PC, Shadow Minister for Europe Emma Reynolds Labour MP, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes MP, Deputy Government Chief Whip and Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Lord Dick Newby, Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee Keith Vaz Labour MP and Baroness Sarah Lutford Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament.
Eminent guests from Turkey included many academics, journalists and politicians who contributed in the centre’s events in the previous years. Former Deputy Leader of AKP Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, Aykan Erdemir CHP MP, Binnaz Toprak CHP MP, Melda Onur CHP MP, Huseyin Akgun CHP MP, journalists Cengiz Candar, Nuray Mert, Ali Bayramoglu, author Bejan Matur, former MP Feyzi Isbasaran, Profesor Istar Gozaydin were among them. Community and non-governmental organisation representatives and business people also attended the dinner.
Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee Keith Vaz Labour MP made an opening speech. He stated the Centre for Turkey Studies only over two years has grown to be a respectable think tank among other Turkey focused organisations in the UK and he called for more support for the centre’s work.
Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt Conservative MP shared his observation that more doctors originating from Turkey work at the NHS each year and emphasized the importance of the strong relations between the UK and Turkey in his speech. He added that he closely follows Istanbul’s bid for the Olympics 2020 and congratulated the Centre for Turkey Studies on its second anniversary.
The anniversary event started with reception and followed by dinner. The second Community Achievement Awards were announced at the event. Many number of people from our communities received their awards. A full list of the winners can be found on the ceftus.org website.